В городе творится что-то странное.

Because в can take different cases depending on meaning:

• в + prepositional = in / inside / at a place, with no movement
  
  • в городе = in the city
• в + accusative = into a place, showing movement
  
  • в город = into the city

Here the sentence describes where something is happening, not movement, so Russian uses the prepositional case: в городе.

Творится comes from твориться, which often means:

• to be happening
• to be going on
• to be taking place

In this sentence, it has a slightly expressive tone. It often suggests that something unusual, chaotic, troubling, or hard to explain is happening.

So В городе творится что-то странное feels a bit stronger or more dramatic than a neutral sentence like:

• В городе происходит что-то странное = Something strange is happening in the city

Both are possible, but творится often sounds more vivid.

The verb is твориться, not творить.

The ending -ся is a common Russian reflexive marker, but reflexive verbs do not always mean a person is doing something to themselves. Sometimes -ся is just part of the verb’s basic dictionary form and gives it a different meaning.

Compare:

• творить = to create, to do
• твориться = to happen, to go on

So here -ся is not literally reflexive in the English sense. It is just part of the verb твориться.

Because Russian indefinite pronouns formed with -то are written with a hyphen.

• что = what
• что-то = something
• кто-то = someone
• где-то = somewhere

So что-то is the normal spelling. It is not optional.

Because странное describes что-то.

The word что-то is grammatically treated as neuter singular, so any adjective modifying it also appears in neuter singular:

• что-то странное = something strange
• что-то интересное = something interesting
• что-то важное = something important

Why not the other forms?

• странный = masculine singular
• странная = feminine singular
• странно can be an adverb or a short-form predicate meaning strangely / it is strange

Here we need an adjective agreeing with что-то, so странное is correct.

It is best understood as nominative, because it functions as the thing that is happening:

• что-то странное творится
  = something strange is going on

However, with что-то, the nominative and accusative forms look the same, so learners often cannot “see” the case from the form alone.

The important practical point is this:

• странное agrees with что-то
• the phrase acts like the subject of the sentence

Yes, Russian word order is flexible.

This sentence starts with В городе to set the scene first:

• В городе творится что-то странное.
  = In the city, something strange is going on.

You could also say:

• Что-то странное творится в городе.

That version puts more focus on что-то странное first: Something strange is going on in the city.

Both are natural. The difference is mainly in emphasis and information flow, not basic meaning.

Because the phrase что-то странное is singular.

Even though English something may feel a bit vague, grammatically it is singular, and Russian treats что-то the same way. So the verb is singular:

• что-то творится = something is happening

If the subject were plural, the verb would also be plural.

Yes, it is common, especially in speech and expressive writing. It often appears when the speaker feels that events are unusual, messy, suspicious, or hard to understand.

For example, it often fits contexts like:

• chaos
• scandal
• mystery
• disorder
• strange behavior

So while it does not always have to be negative, it very often suggests that something is not normal.

That is why it works well with что-то странное.

Yes, but the tone changes.

• что-то странное = neutral, common, conversational: something strange
• нечто странное = more literary, formal, or dramatic: something strange / a strange thing

So:

• В городе творится что-то странное. sounds natural in everyday Russian.
• В городе творится нечто странное. sounds more dramatic or bookish.

A natural stress pattern is often:

В гОроде творИтся что-то стрАнное.

Key stress points:

• гОроде
• творИтся
• стрАнное

In actual speech, the strongest emphasis may shift depending on what the speaker wants to highlight:

• В городе творится что-то странное.
  (emphasis on the place)
• В городе творится что-то странное.
  (emphasis on the fact that something is going on)
• В городе творится что-то странное.
  (emphasis on the strangeness)

You can understand it word by word, but a natural English translation usually needs some adjustment.

Word by word:

• В городе = in the city
• творится = is going on / is happening
• что-то странное = something strange

Natural English translations include:

• Something strange is going on in the city.
• There’s something strange happening in the city.
• Something strange is happening in the city.

So the structure is not exactly the same as English, but the meaning is straightforward once you know the parts.